Lee County voters divided over Gov. DeSantis' controversial redistricting plan

FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK)— A controversial redistricting plan proposed by Gov. Ron DeSantis has passed through both the Florida House and Senate and is now headed to the governor's desk.

The new map would have a large impact on Southwest Florida, especially Lee County. For the first time, the city limits of Fort Myers would be lumped in with Charlotte County and southern Sarasota County under District 17, which U.S. Rep. Greg Steube represents most of.

Jim Rosinus, chairman of the Lee County Democratic Party, said the redrawn map is unconstitutional and will be fought in court once the governor signs the bill.

"It's pretty obvious that it's done for blatant political advantage," Rosinus said. "He was bragging about the extra Republican districts that he's creating. So that was my first reaction. It's illegal."

"If this is passed, as soon as it's passed, there will be lawsuits filed, because, as I said, it is blatantly unconstitutional, and it's obviously a power grab," Rosinus said.

Mercedes, chairwoman of the Lee County Republican Party, said the new map is long overdue.

"A lot of us conservatives have been really frustrated with the fact that the Biden administration swiped congressional seats from us knowing that we're the fastest growing state in the country, so we never had the opportunity to benefit from the census information of 2020," Mercedes said. "So I'm excited that DeSantis, much like Trump, is transformative in that he's willing to jump the gun and get this through so that we can go ahead and make things a little more balanced for not only Republicans, but for the citizens and the voting members of the State of Florida."

Voters are anxiously waiting to see how it plays out.

"Remember what this redistricting is going to really do, because it can affect schools, homes, even, you know, if you really think about it, the redistricting can before housing mess up the housing situation as well for a lot of people who really need it," said Chef Roman Walker, a Lee County voter.

For now, it's a waiting game to see what happens next.